Back when I was visiting Panda in DC in the summer, I came across some random interesting sights. Behold.

In case you forget what a crosswalk is for?

I never knew they had branded three-wheelers! This guy's riding in style, isn't he?

A building under renovation.

Up, up and away!

Traffic was at a virtual stop when the rain came! They had shut down the Sepulveda tunnel due to flooding, which made what should have been a 10-minute drive back took over an hour extra. Yikes.

Our shuttle to the satellite terminals at LAX had a little head-to-head with the planes on the runway.

Cute!

All day, Angelenos have been bracing themselves for the 405 shutdown, which has been dubbed “Carmageddon” due to the potential for massive gridlock across the city as traffic diverts elsewhere.  As it is, the 405 is known for terrible traffic conditions, so we were really unsure of what would happen when a 10-mile stretch of the northbound side (approximately from the 10 freeway to the 101 freeway) and a 4-mile stretch of the southbound side was closed for the weekend.  Anyone trying to get over into the San Fernando Valley would have to find an alternate route, ranging from PCH along the coast to the 101/170 or 5 further inland.

We’ve been hearing warnings for over a month, with traffic condition signs flashing: “405 Closed 10 to 101, July 16-17 Expect Big Delays”  It’s been over the news and I’ve heard that even people in Norcal up to the Oregon border were notified!  Caltrans sure worked hard to make sure that as many people knew as possible so locals could plan to stay in and visitors could schedule around the weekend.  As we got closer, we were even told about an app called Waze that could provide us with GPS routes based on traffic conditions to help us get around the congestion.

So Friday afternoon, people started leaving work (wishing each other a Happy Carmegeddon), hoping to get home before the craziness.  Many even stayed at home that day so they wouldn’t have to deal with or contribute to the evening traffic.  By the time I was getting out around 6, the freeways looked clear.  They never looked like at on a weekday!  I was originally going to wait until 8 or 9 to head home so I could avoid the commuter’s clog, but since it looked so good I packed up and left around 6:30.

It was the most amazing commute I ever had.  Even with normal free-flowing traffic, there are still a lot of cars on the road, but this time it was so much more empty.  I only saw one car using the carpool lane, and that wasn’t for lack of carpoolers!  They just didn’t need it.  The only time I really had to slow down was up by the Getty Center, where there had been a crash that needed to get moved over so we could squeeze by.

Thanks to Carmegeddon for freeing up the roads before the closure.  It made my life a lot easier that night!  We’ll see how the rest of the weekend pans out.  I’m steering clear until Sunday night.

I saw this training bus one morning on my way to work and couldn’t help but admire its simplicity. None of the noisy ads we’re used to seeing

It's a beautiful color, one of my favorite, I'd say.

Today on my drive home, I saw a car get pulled over about a mile behind me.  It made me think about how often I see cars pulled over at the Magic Mountain exit of the 5 North.  From the moment you get over the hump into the Santa Clarita Valley, the 5 becomes a fast ride.  It’s hard not to get carried away with all the speeding cars around you and I always have to be extra careful that I don’t drive too fast.  I wonder if I passed that very same highway patrol who caught that car I saw in my rearview mirror.  I assume that I had, and of course didn’t even notice.  Good thing I was driving the speed limit, unlike a lot of my neighbors on the road.

Just as I was thinking about all the cops I’d seen along Magic Mountain Parkway or Tourney road, I turned off the exit to that very spot and lo and behold, there were two cop cars there.  This time it was just because of an SUV that had to be towed, but usually it’s because someone got caught along the speed trap the 5 becomes at that point.  From Stevenson Ranch all the way up to Castaic, it’s a huge stretch of light traffic (most of the time) and motorists get too reckless.

I remember my dad telling me about another small speed trap area – that part of Magic Mountain Pkwy leading into Valencia.  The road is wide, there isn’t much around you, and you got used to freeway speeds, so when you get there, it’s easy to get back up to 60 or more.  There’s plenty of space on the shoulder to allow a cop to lie in wait and while I haven’t seen anyone pulled over, I do catch myself going over the 50 MPH sometimes.  It’s harder to recognize how fast you’re going when the road is so wide and empty.  You don’t have that much around you to gauge your speed either.  It definitely takes some vigilance to stay within the limit.

I couldn’t tell – did this guy just not care about how poorly he drove or was he too high too notice? And what did the other person/people in the car think?! Just gotta love LA drivers. -___-

This went on along the 405 South from the Getty to the 10! Unbelievable.